Golden Gate, USA

The bridge that could not be built

It is early autumn in 1821, the Mexican War of Independence has just ended and the town of Yerba Buna is now under Mexican rule. The town was located in the northeastern part of the peninsula that would later be called San Francisco. We jump to January 30, 1846, when the name of the town was also changed to San Francisco. We turn on the time machine again and we are now in 1850, when the city became an official American territory. The California gold rush is in full swing and large streams of people are heading to San Francisco, the economy is stirring and the city is booming.

There was only one small geographical problem related to transportation - to move people to the neighboring community of Marin, they had to use sea transportation, since San Francisco was pinched to the east by San Francisco Bay, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the north was the Golden Gate (Golden Gate) Strait. Sure the way south was free, but tediously long and tiring no matter where you traveled. I don't remember who, but someone had said that happiness was not a geographical concept, and so it was for San Franciscans.

However, the people's quest for innovation and well-being could not be stopped, except perhaps by 1300 meters of ocean with a depth of 120 meters. In the 19th century, designers and engineers began to explain that a bridge over Golden Gate was impossible to build. It is interesting to mention where the name Golden Gate comes from. In his memoirs, Captain John Fremont, an American explorer who led five expeditions to western North America, wrote of the strait: "To this strait I have given the name of Chrysopylae, or Golden Gate, for the same reason that the harbour at Bisantium is called Chrysoceras, or Golden Horn."

Colored lights flicker, everything blurs, and the time machine brings us to the year 2020, when there is already a bridge over the Golden Gate. It's 2,700 meters long, reaches 227 meters at its highest point, carries around 110,000 vehicles every day and is considered one of the seven wonders of American architecture. For $8, you can cross the bridge by bike on a specially built bike path, or you can rent a waterfront hotel overlooking the hauntingly beautiful orange bridge. Orange, you know, but why? I think it's time to turn the time machine back on.

The year is 1916, the new twentieth century has dawned, along with its wonders and new technologies, when James Wilkins, an engineer in progress, proposes to build a bridge over the strait. The idea gained popularity, but the city architect cooled passions by announcing that building such a bridge would cost over $100 million, a colossal sum for the time, equivalent to $2.3 billion at today's rate. He does not spare the possible difficulties that would arise in the construction to refuse other enthusiasts. However, the city council was obliged to ask if someone could do it for a more modest sum. Of course there was no shortage of offers, but one stood out for its enticing price. It came from the diminutive six-foot-five poet and engineer Joseph Strauss, who said he could build a bridge for $17 million.

He was a visionary who designed in his thesis an 89-kilometer bridge over the Bering Strait, later working at Ralph Modjeski's famous design firm, where he proposed replacing the steel counterweights used at the time with concrete ones for lower costs, and it cost him the job. However, history is unforgiving and Strauss turns out to be right. His original idea was for a bridge with three cantilevers - two on each bank and one in the middle of the strait. City officials agreed in principle to his proposal, but there were a few catches. There are always those! First, they wanted the bridge not to be cantilevered, but suspension, because metallurgy was booming and this was thought to be the best technology. Second, Strauss had to use other designers and specialists appointed by the city authorities in his work. While the first two conditions were not a problem, the third was already daunting - he had to get permission from the state, the public and find funding.

It's 2020 again, we're riding on a cruise ship in San Francisco Bay for a modest $29. To feel the magic and what poet Dylan Thomas saw to say "You won't believe there's such a place as San Francisco. A beautiful sunset ... huge bridges and the Pacific Ocean at your feet," it's nice to get on the boat at sundown. The boat will take you under the Golden Gate Bridge, where bay and ocean touch like shy youths, then swing by the famous Alcatraz Island, about which you'll hear more legends than truths. However, something doesn't have to be true to be interesting. When you're tired, your eyes are overflowing with the beauty of the bay, and your stomach is already curled into a ball from hunger, you can refuel at the Round House Cafe, which is on the south side of the Golden Gate Bridge and offers 360-degree panoramic views of the bay, the Pacific Ocean, the bridge, and the city. The restaurant is Art Deco and hasn't been altered since 1938 when it opened. There you can enjoy delicious and unhealthy California food - burgers with a variety of sauces, a bread bowl full of soup or seafood salads.

It took Strauss more than ten years, several rejected projects, to meet the city government's conditions, but the price tag climbed to $35 million. At first, there was resistance from local ferry companies who had a strong lobby in the local community and any bridge construction would have hit their business. Then the military stepped in, who, simply because they are the military, were worried that a bridge over the strait would restrict ship traffic. However, the auto industry came to the bridge's defense, realizing that there was a profit to be made from the whole thing. Eventually the problems with the land on which construction was to begin were sorted out.

On January 5, 1933, construction began with the excavation for one mast. The design of the bridge was Art Deco and too innovative even for Strauss, it was to be held up by only two masts 1,280 meters apart, and this is the largest spacing to this day of bridge supporting columns. On either side of the bridge were stretched two main "cables" 92 cm in diameter, which were woven from 27,500 galvanized steel strands. Each column weighed nearly 60 thousand tons, and the entire bridge about 900 thousand tons. Now we will understand why it is orange - because the entire structure is metal, and it is only 65 meters from the salty ocean water and needed solid protection against corrosion.

The anti-corrosion paint was just orange. The bridge was completed on May 27, 1937, ahead of schedule and costing less than the estimate.  

The bridge became a work of art because of its elegant style, austere shapes and bright colors, showing the hedonistic overindulgent lifestyle of the mid-20th century. Because of its position, the Golden Gate Bridge is often shrouded in dense fog, giving passers-by the feeling of being between the clouds and the ocean. If you're in San Francisco call me to give you a tour of the bridge, I'll tell you another interesting story that doesn't have to be true.

When you leave don't forget to stop by the Tourist Center on the south side of the bridge, there you can buy souvenirs and magnets for your friends waiting for you at home to hear the amazing story of the bridge that could not be built.